Of Slime And Snow
by clanKorval
Summary: A delightful little ficlet in which Howl slimes, which of course upsets poor Sophie, who must get back at him. And then some.


A/N: Hey y'all! The crazy Delmae strikes again!  
  
Disclaimer: the setting, as do all the characters, human or otherwise, belong to the wonderful Diana. They. Are. Not. Mine.   
  
Sophie was annoyed. Howl had slimed again, and left it to her to clean it up. She scowled to herself and pulled a mop and bucket out of the broom closet. Still scowling, she turned the handle on the kitchen sink. Nothing came out.  
  
"Calcifer! Where's the hot water?"  
  
It was the dead of winter, so Calcifer had to pull all water from a hot spring, and he was in just as bad a mood as Sophie, considering that Howl had been using hot water for over three hours.  
  
Sophie picked up a frying pan and whacked it on the fireplace to get the fire demon's attention.  
  
Calcifer looked up at her.  
  
"Didn't you hear me? Where's the hot water for the sink?"  
  
"There isn't any more! Howl's taken it all- I have no more hot water to draw."  
  
"I bet we'll be seeing him storming out soon with his hair still green."  
  
"At least we'll have some comic relief before we die."  
  
Sure enough, Howl came storming out into the main room in his bathrobe, a towel falling off of his head to reveal green hair.  
  
"Calcifer! Where's the hot water?"  
  
"There isn't any more! You've taken it all- there's no more hot water to draw!"  
  
"Incompetent demon! Find somewhere else to draw from!" He proceeded to slam the bathroom door.  
  
Sophie rolled her eyes, looking at the puddle of green slime on the floor. "I guess I'll just have to use snow."  
  
She opened the door and looked out at the snowscape. She scooped up a bucketful of the white powder, and dumped it into the middle of the slime pile. She repeated this several times, and then several times again. By the time she had finished, the room looked as if the roof had fallen off during a snowstorm. Getting an idea, she pulled Michael off the workbench where he had been attempting to create a spell and explained her new idea to him. He nodded, grinning. He was sick of Howl, too. Sophie filled the large bucket again.  
  
The cold must have seeped into the bathroom, because Howl flung the door open again and again proceeded to yell while wearing the bathrobe and hair turban.  
  
"Insane woman! What are you doing? Bringing the winter indoors?" Seeing Michael with a bucketful of snow, he continued his tirade. "And now you're corrupting a perfectly good apprentice!"  
  
Sophie spoke coolly while signaling to Michael, who proceeded to sneak into the bathroom and dump the snow into the scented, green-slime-y bathwater.  
  
"I am only attempting to clean up the mess you've left behind."  
  
Michael crept back out of the bathroom as Howl turned around and stormed back in.  
  
Sophie grinned at him and then tried to mop up the mess, which resulted only in turning the snow and the mop green. They braced themselves for an explosion. It came soon enough.  
  
Howl raged out of the bathroom, his eyes almost bugging out.  
  
"Who has put snow in my bathwater?" he snarled. When no one spoke, he continued. "Calcifer! Have you found another spring yet?"  
  
"I'm sorry, but it seems there are no more within my range. You shall just have to wait until the springs replenish themselves."  
  
"Wait! With slime drying on my hair and person?"  
  
"Well, you can always take a cold bath," Sophie suggested wickedly.  
  
He whirled around to face her, the towel slipping off his head. He had made progress- his hair was more ginger than green, but when she said as much, he just glared at her.  
  
After a moment of stalemate, he huffed out his breath. "Fine." he made as if to sit huffily in the armchair, but slipped and landed on his bottom in the middle of the pile of snow.  
  
Howl growled in frustration, and looked menacingly at each of them in turn, as if daring them to say anything.  
  
Sophie put a hand over her mouth, but he looked so funny in his dripping-wet, snow-encrusted bathrobe and lopsided turban that when she glanced at Michael they both dissolved into fits of laughter.  
  
Howl just sat there looking stern.  
  
A/N: Since I'm bored, and since I'm waiting for my ride outside, where the temperature is currently 94 degrees with humidity at 70%, I'm going to post a little review game:  
-first, tell me what kind of ice cream you would be eating were you with me in the heat and humidity of Texas  
-second, fill in the blanks: If I was a , I would be a . (example: billboard- an ad for a storage facility (empty, like my head) 


End file.
